Shaping the Australian identity

Shaping the Australian identity

David d’Lima, FamilyVoice Australia - November 2020

The identity of the Australian people is the set of qualities that characterise those who live on our great island continental landmass. Those characteristics include the predominantly English heritage of the people, including the language, religion, customs, civic institutions, food and clothing exported by England in the colonial era. The First Fleet arrived in 1788, bringing convicts and colonists who carried the English language, the Christian faith, the Crown, with the law code and customs of Britain.

Indigenous culture flourished prior to the arrival of British people, but Aboriginal influences on colonial and modern Australian mainstream identity are minimal. The greatest indigenous influence on Australian culture is perhaps the use of the didgeridoo by some musicians, and the use of certain indigenous nouns including kangaroo, koala, boomerang, Uluru, and Kata Tjuta...